Getting a little pedantic here (my specialty, I guess), but even
old, mechanical analog watches on fobs were "wearable computers"
albeit special-purpose: they computed time of day. And from
the monocle to the soft contact lens, we've been "wearing"
special-purpose optical image processing computers for centuries
now.
Stretching a point? Maybe. Make some computable function
virtually indispensable, however, and miniaturizable to the point
of being weable without being a burden, and you have the next
"wearable computer."
What Ren speaks of, however, is not special-purpose computing,
but something more like general-purpose computing undergoing
a parts-explosion (and commodity price/performance competition
among the parts.) He gets whimsical, and the bit about the
hard-drive in the shoe is over the top - Jeffrey Funk's comments
are well-taken here.
But there are people who are hardly ever without a *particular*
piece of jewelry, be it a necklace, ring, bracelet, earing, or any
of a variety of piercings. Add something function to that,
something that people find addictive, and You Have Truly Arrived.
It doesn't even have to make a fashion statement. I suspect
the Next Big Wearable will have something to do with biometric
wireless identity verification, and automatic payment. The nice
thing about money is its ease of use (compared to the effort to
earn it); the only thing easier would be being almost unaware of
spending it. That was the lesson of the charge card, after all,
and the only thing better than plastic might be....
EtherCharge (R) - Coming to a piece of jewelry on you.....
Michael Turner
www.idiom.com/~turner
leap@gol.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Renfield Kuroda" <Renfield.Kuroda@msdw.com>
To: <keitai-l@appelsiini.net>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2000 5:04 PM
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: Japan Mobile Info and wearable computing
> I've been a wearable computer user for years: my digital watch is loaded
with
> features, and ever since last year I keep my cellphone on a cool strap
around my
> neck...
> It's not an issue of when. It's already happening. Walk around Shibuya and
see
> how many people are wearing cell phones, md players, etc.
color-coordinated to
> their fashion of the day, and packing serious computing power.
>
> r e n
>
>
> jeffrey funk wrote:
>
> > I have been following the wearable computing market at a distance for
> > several years and I keep wondering, do we have to buy five pairs of
shoes
> > that contain a hard disk or do we just always wear the same shoes? I am
not
> > an expert on fashion but wearing the same shoes everyday is not cool.
Now
> > someone is probably going to say that we will have shoes and other
clothes
> > that contain portals for these hard disks, buttons, and displays. This
may
> > happen but it will take many years for these kinds of standards (size of
> > portals, etc.) to appear. And the first wearable computing users will
not be
>
> [ EXCESSIVE QUOTING REMOVED ]
>
>
>
Received on Tue Aug 29 05:39:13 2000